154 Mr William Sturgeon on the Aurora Borealis. 



Several streaks of white light, at a higher altitude, but parallel to 

 the former, were also observed, all of which were arrangred in the 

 direction of the wind. 



At about ten minutes before eight, a number of flashes of dim white 

 light shot across the heavens in various directions, and lighted up the 

 streaks of vapour as they came at them in succession. At eight 

 o'clock the thermometer had fallen to 42°, and there was a dead calm. 

 At half-past eight several broad patches of feeble white light passed 

 swiftly along the sky, in almost every direction ; these were suc- 

 ceeded by a dim luminous white haze that seemed to fill all the 

 northern heavens up to the zenith ; it gradually waned, and, in a 

 short time, finally disappeared, closing the scene for the night. 



Sunday, December 17. — Fine frosty morning, with some fog. 

 The day turned out fine, and the thermometer rose to 36°. At 

 night we had a grand display of the aurora borealis. It began be- 

 fore seven o'clock, and lasted till after midnight. At half past 

 seven the aurora consisted of three large patches of light, one in the 

 east, one in the west, and the other just beneath the north star. 

 Streamers shot from all these occasionally, but the principal light 

 was in the west. About a quarter before eight an extensive range 

 of streamers burst out all round the northern heavens, from the west 

 to the cast points, some of which assumed a dingy red hue for a mo- 

 ment, and then changed again to the soft white. There were two 

 ranges of these streamei~s, one considerably higher than the other, 

 with an unilluminated vacant space between them, though at first view 

 the whole seemed to be but one group. The streamers of the upper- 

 most range reached the altitude of Cassiopife, at that time a little 

 westward of the meridian. Between eight and nine o'clock, several 

 flashes or waves of light swept across the zenith and many other 

 parts of the sky, in different directions ; several of these waves pro- 

 ceeded from west to east, many irom north to south, some of which 

 reached the Seven Stars, and others traversed the heavens oblique to the 

 former — all denoting an electric disturbance in the higher regions of 

 theair,illuminatingthe highly-attenuated vapour in which it took place. 

 These flashes or waves were of precisely the same character as those 

 which appeared on the 21st of November, but their transit was much 

 slower, so that the eye could follow them in their progress to their 

 apparent destination. During this period of the aurora, several light 

 rain-clouds scudded across from south to noi'th, at a low altitude, and 

 obscured the waves of light, evincing, as on other occasions, that the 

 electrical meteor was above the clouds. 



About nine o'clock, the whole of the celestial concave partook of 

 the auroral scene, which exhibited very diffei'ent aspects in different 

 quarters. The northern parts had now become the brightest, though 

 continually changing in intensity and tint of colour ; the latter 

 varying between a soft yellowish white and a dingy red. In the south 

 there appeared nothing but a luiid red haze, which gave a dinmess 



